Pitch Rolling – from the
presentation given by Martin Ford and Len Smith

This is an attempt to briefly summarise the
excellent presentation givin to the CAG by Martin and Len on Weds 24/Feb – which itselfwas a summary of research done at Cranfield.
( You can link to this report in the Information page of this website).

My impression is that the major practical
points to remember are :-

(1)You cannot compress liquids, so
there’s no point in rolling when the playing area is soaked.

(2)The ideal time to roll is after
a couple of days with no rain and reasonable temperatures (10 deg C). A good
test is to push a knife blade into the wicket, if it comes out clean then its
OK to roll.

(3)Pre-season rolling is a good
idea, it’s probably best to go straight on with your usual roller rather than
build up with lighter ones. (Which is not what the research paper says). Roll a
“Union Jack” pattern.

(4)As long as you’ve chosen a good
time to roll the compression of the surface happens quite quickly (4 passes of
the roller) – so there’s no point in doing more – wait a couple more days or
until you think further drying has been achieved before rolling again.

(5)One of the major factors in
getting water out of the surface is healthy grass with a good area of leaf (the
grass pumps water out through the leaves by transpiration) . So, probably
contrary to what most of us do, it’s recommended to leave the grass on the new
wicket as long as possible right up to the day or so before play. This has the
additional advantage that cutting it to playing length late gives that
white/straw colour that cricketers expect, even if the cut is not particularly
short.

(6)If you are lucky enough to be
able to buy a new roller choose one with large diameter – this minimises
horizontal pressure – which can worsen any layering defects within the surface
(root breaks etc).

(7)Although not directly
associated with rolling, Martin and Len stressed the danger of changing loam on
a pitch as many do not mix and have different expansion properties when wet - which can cause all sorts of layering
problems.